Trout anglers enjoy perfect opening day conditions

In some respects Saturday’s opening day of trout season here in Pennsylvania was unique and unusual, particularly when gauged against what happened in the Commonwealth last year. That’s when the folks at the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, in the shadow of a growing Covid-19 threat, abandoned their scheduled opening day plans, instead improvising with a spur of the moment announcement that trout season had spontaneously begun all across Pennsylvania.

The original statewide opening day had been set for April 18, 2020, but then the agency suddenly announced that the season had unceremoniously already opened on April 7, an unexpected revelation that sent unprepared trout fishermen frantically dusting off their rods and reels before running out to the nearest trout stream to wet a line.

But this year, with Covid a major factor still hanging in the air, the PFBC was reluctant to reestablish the two opening day routine where the eighteen southeastern counties had their opener two weeks before the rest of the state. Instead they scheduled a one-sizefits-all date of April 3 for this year’s statewide opening day, a practice that had been the norm until recent years. In any case, Saturday was the first traditional opening day the state’s trout fishing fraternity has enjoyed in two years.

And, as it turns out, it’s a day well worth waiting for, especially here in our neck of Penn’s Woods, while boasting perfect weather and water conditions, clear blue skies and crystal clear streams. Like so many of my trout fishing brethren, I had done my due diligence in scouting our local streams in search of a primo fishing hole. When I found one on West Valley Creek I figured I would likely have to show up early to stake my streamside claim.

The caveat was that on the day before the opener, I received my second Covid shot. I was aware that a few of my friends had had more severe reactions to the second shot, something that had set them back for a day or two, and I was concerned that could undermine my opening day plans. Fortunately, other than a sore arm, I endured shot number two with no ill effects.

But I did arrive streamside Saturday morning a little later than intended, around 6:40 a.m., an hour and twenty minutes before the starting gun would sound at 8:00 a.m. I am astonished to discover that I am the first and only fisherman there. I wade across the stream (relieved to learn that my hip boots hadn’t sprung any leaks in the past year) and set up shop on the opposite bank with my portable folding chair and thermos of coffee. Two minutes later two other vehicles pull in as five other anglers pile out and begin assembling their gear.

I figure it’s only a matter of time before my coveted spot starts getting squeezed, but all of these later arriving anglers disperse both up and downstream leaving me alone with my coffee. Could these folks be practicing social fishtancing? I strike up a conversation with one of them, a fellow named Jim Beam (really his name) from Malvern who plans to fish a trout-rich bend many yards downstream from me. Most folks respect the 8:00 a.m. official start of the season, but at 7:42 I spot a fisherman unencumbered by any such artificial restraints, namely a mature bald eagle, headed upstream and flying low over the creek, likely in search of a trout breakfast.

My arsenal of baits includes garden worms, Power Bait, and kernel corn, the trout’s three main food groups, of course. As the opening bell approaches, I bait my number 10 hook with three kernels of corn. The only drawback this morning is that you can see your breath because the temperatures are hovering in the mid twenties. Frozen fingers would make it difficult to bait a hook. When my cell phone screen turns from 7:59 to 8:00, I cast upstream and let the current serve the corn kernels to the waiting trout.

Bingo. First cast, first trout. It’s a brown that puts up a good fight. I don’t have a net, but I soon work the fish onto the narrow collar of sediment where I am stationed. Most days I release the trout I catch, but this morning I’ll put this trout on my stringer, aiming to collect my five fish daily limit. My daughter’s family is staying in the area and would appreciate a dinner of fresh caught trout.

Corn kernels appear to be the trout’s breakfast of choice this morning, and, despite fumbling with fingers numbed by the stream’s icy waters, I manage to score my daily trout limit in just over half an hour, all on corn. That gives me time, as this paper’s outdoors columnist, to check out the opening day fishing action elsewhere. A mile or so upstream I come to the intersection of Valley Creek Road and Ravine Road. This is where the West Chester Fish, Game, and Wildlife Association’s trout nursery is located on the Paradise Farm Camps property. These are the folks that faithfully stock West Valley Creek with trout, and trout fishermen like me owe them a huge debt of gratitude for any trout we might catch this morning.

As usual the pool beneath the bridge is loaded with trout and surrounded by hopeful anglers. In deference to Covid, some are wearing masks but all seem to be social distancing to some extent. Upstream of the bridge are Dean O’Neill of West Chester along with Downingtown’s Matt Dolski fishing with his 8-year old son Logan. They’ve already caught and released a few trout this morning. On the downstream side of the bridge with a brace of trout already on his stringer is West Chester’s Steve Koczirka fishing with his grown son Dave. The Koczirkas arrived here at 7:30 a.m., surprised to find the scene not so crowded as in some past years.

One angler living nearby reports that quite a bit of pre-season trout poaching took place during the week, primarily by young kids. This angler’s theory is that the illegal fishing resulted from confusion about the Mentored Youth Trout Day. That day took place a week earlier on March 27 when young anglers and their accompanying adult mentors got first crack at stocked trout. Legal fishing that day ran only from 8:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. when kids under age 16 could keep 2 trout apiece. It seems that some anglers were under the mistaken impression that the season for Mentored Youth opened a week early and was not limited to just one day.

Later that morning I stop by Kerr Park in Downingtown to investigate the fishing action on the East Branch of the Brandywine Creek. The weather has warmed by then and the fishing crowd has thinned dramatically. I carry my notebook and camera downstream to the confluence of Beaver Creek where Coatesville’s Michael Lofgus is wading in ankle-deep water. “It was packed with people this morning,” says Lofgus. “It was just 26 degrees when I got here at 6:00 a.m.” While the early morning throngs have dispersed, the warming waters seem to activate once docile trout.

Lofgus’s patience is soon rewarded when another trout falls to his waxworm offering. “I have live minnows too,” adds Lofgus, “but these fish seem to want the waxworms.”

Fishing from shore a few yards away are Zach Morgantini of Glenmoore and West Chester’s Anthony White. White is using Power Bait and Roostertail lures to tempt the trout. I watch as he lands a nice trout that goes for his Roostertail spinner.

There’s something fitting about this year’s opening day being sandwiched between Good Friday and Easter. I’ve long thought that fishing for stocked trout resembles an Easter egg hunt. Just as colorful Easter eggs are planted on the lawn for eager children to find, so are colorful trout stocked in streams and lakes for equally eager anglers to find.

TATUM SCORES EASTER GRAND SLAM ON TROUT

So on Easter morning I once again attend sunrise service — streamside that is, and return to my West Valley Creek hotspot shortly after dawn only to discover that this time another angler has beaten me to it, namely Dan Tracey of East Bradford. I cross the stream, set up in the same spot, and crack open a thermos of coffee. This morning is much warmer and there’s no need to wait until 8 a.m. since the season is now open 24/7.

But today these trout want nothing to do with kernels of corn. I look on with envy as Tracey, positioned upstream across the creek from me, reels in trout after trout unable to resist his waxworm baits. I think he has four trout on his stringer before I ever get a bite. But my luck changes when I switch from corn to garden worms and before long, like Tracey, I also have four fish on my stringer and find myself on the verge of completing a feat I have never accomplished before — a trout fishing Grand Slam with four different species of trout to my credit on the same outing. Thus far I have collected three: two brown trout, a rainbow, and a brook trout. Some anglers designate this a Grand Slam in itself, but if I can manage to hook up with one of the palomino/ golden rainbow trout that lurk in the stream here it will be historic, a kind of Super Grand Slam. (Full disclosure: These fish are not really another trout species but are essentially a mutated strain of rainbow trout).

Another forty minutes passes before Tracey’s lightweight rod bends over again. “There’s number five!” he smiles, coaxing the trout to his net. Moments later I hook up with my biggest trout of the day, a fat palomino that leaps and jumps for all it was worth, in a futile effort to throw the hook. When I land this hybrid fish my so-called “Grand Slam” and a most memorable day of trout fishing is now in the books. Kudos to the fine folks at the West Chester Fish, Game, and Wildlife Association. I couldn’t have done it without you!